Buddhini Karunathilaka

“Every Great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world” -Harriet Tubman- Dream chasing is not something that everyone can do. Thinking part would be possible, but when the dream is put into action, that would be difficult. Nevertheless, you should believe that your dream is worth chasing. In addition, you should have constant belief in your dreams. It is true that everyone has the capability to dream. Only a few can achieve their dreams whereas most of the people give-up their attempts in the middle of the process. You are never too old, poor, or sick to live your dreams. Dreams are just ‘dreams’ and the term ‘dreams’ is just a mere word until you add passion to your dreams.  You might not achieve your dreams in the same way that others use to achieve their dreams. However, what is needed is to believe in your own dreams and work for that in your own way. Then you

The ability to be tolerant/ patient is the mark of wisdom. Patience is a virtue that we all can practice more. In our daily life, there is much that we have to endure. It is an invaluable skill.  Especially, we have to bear various types of mental and physical pains. Not only those pains but also we have to face depressions, frustrations, and worries. As many psychological disorders are brought about by wrong habits of thought, superfluous anxieties and unhealthy mental attitudes, it is very important to practice patience under those conditions.  Insults are a common set that humans have to face and endure. The more you succeed in your life, career or education, the more you would be subjected in humiliation, insults and critics. You should forget every evil and insult. You should only remember every kindness.  In this age, people expect everything right when we want it. Most of the time, things do not always happen as the way that you want it to be happen. You might confu

Moods and mindset can influence how we behave in certain situations. Moods are the emotions we feel whereas the mindset is the thoughts and ideas that go with the moods. There are two types of mooed: positive moods and negative moods. Positive moods can be occurred in various aspects of lives. Sometime we are in such a mood which we cannot exactly printout why we are in a good mood (A situation that we feel no sense of stress in our lives). When it comes to negative moods they have been connected with anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, depression etc. If there is a way that we can understand our moods, then it is possible to gain control over the moods. It would defend us from doing things that we might regret later. We should not make important decisions when we are under emotional stress because we cannot see the positive or negative effects of a particular decision and we cannot come to well-considered decisions. That means we should not make decisions either in situations w

You are mistaken if you think that anybody else is controlling your future. There is no such thing called inevitable fate or in other words, irrevocable destiny. Whatever you do now is creating your future. The decisions you take now, will decide your future. Do not look outside for your success. If one fails, all the time it’s someone else’s fault. But that’s not true. You are the key to your success.  The past is a memory which is obviously an important part of who you are today. But, we should not waste our existence by grieving over the past. If we waste the time of our lives, we will miss this valuable opportunity to achieve something in our lives. The past has contributed a lot to the person who you are today. But it cannot be changed or modified. It is true that the past was the key which shaped who we are now. If someone experience unhappiness and suffering at the present, then it is possible to identify those unhappy experiences as the results of the faults that had b

"Much talking is a source of danger, Through silence misfortune is avoided, The talkative parrot in a cage is shut,  While birds that cannot talk fly freely." -Tibetan yogi- In the contemporary world, communication plays a decisive role when making human relationships. Everyone has the innate need to communicate with the people who are in contact with us. The nature of one’s mind can be indicated through the level of speech. If our thoughts are rapid and confused, then the tone of our voice will reflect it by loud speech.  If our mind is well-controlled and quiet, then our speech becomes gentle. Facial movements, arm, leg and body movements go along with the level of our speech. We have to use the right quantity of the words when expressing our ideas. Most of the words that we use when answering a question are meaningless in the sense that a when a particular question can be answered in two sentences, 100 sentences will be used to elaborate the answ

නව කොරෝනා වෛරස ව්‍යාප්තිය සමස්ත ලෝකයටම තර්ජනයක්ව ඇති මොහොතක ශ්‍රී ලාංකේය ජනයාට ද එහි බලපෑමෙන් මිදීමට නොහැකිව තිබේ. මෙම වෛරසය මර්දනය කිරීමේ වැඩපිළිවෙළ යම් සාර්ථක මට්ටමක පවතින බව පෙනේ. ආසාදිතයින් පිරිසෙහි සංඛ්‍යාත්මක වර්ධනයක් සිදු වූයේ නාවික හමුදා රණවිරුවන් පිරිසකට මෙම වෛරසය ආසාදනය වූවාට පසුවයි. නිවාඩු ලබා ගොස් සිටි පිරිසද කඳවුරු තුළට ගෙන්වා ගත් පසු සහ අනෙකුත් පිරිස් නිරෝධායනය කිරීමෙනි පසු නැවතත් මෙම වෛරස ව්‍යාප්තිය යම් පාලනයකට ලක් කර ගැනීමට හැකියාව ලැබී ඇති බව සෞඛ්‍ය අංශ වාර්තා කරයි. මේ අවස්ථාවේදී සෞඛ්‍ය අංශ ලබා දෙන නිර්දේශ අනුවම තවදුරටත් කටයුතු කිරීමට රජය සැලකිලිමත් විය යුතුය. මෙම ක්‍රියාවලිය තුළ මේ දක්වා ඇතිකරගෙන තිබෙන සාර්ථකත්වය තවදුරටත් වගකීම් සහගතව පවත්වාගෙන යාමට ඒ හරහා හැකියාව පවතින අතර ඒ සඳහා රටේ සියලුම පුරවැසියන් තුළ ස්වයං-විනයක් පවත්වාගත යුතුව ඇත. දිගින් දිගටම පැනවීමට සිදු වූ ඇඳිරි නීතිය නිසා ජන ජීවිතය අඩාල විය. ඉදිරි සතිය තුළ ඇඳිරි නීති සීමාවන් යම්තාක් දුරකට ලිහිල් කරමින් ජන ජීවිතය නැවත යථා තත්ත්වයට පත්කිරීමට සූදානමක් ඇතැයි කියැවෙන මොහොතක  පසුගිය කාලයේ ජන ජීවිතයේ පැවති දු

Public speaking has become an essential life skill in the contemporary world. This article series would be based on the ways in which we could develop public speaking skills. In this article, we look at the history of public speaking and the famous public speakers throughout the history. What is public speaking? Public speaking can be defined as the process of presenting a speech to a live audience. In other words, it is a formal or an informal attempt of speaking of a single person to a group of listeners. There are many uses of public speaking. - Transmitting information - Motivating people - Telling a story and so on. Public speaking includes several elements. - Audience - Communicator - Medium - Message Public speaking has a long history which goes back to ancient Greece. Public speaking was developed in ancient Greece and Rome. Rhetoric was the main constituent of work of art and speech delivery. The most important thing is citizens spoke on their own beha

Children’s rights are a division of human rights which is related to the special protection and care to the children. Every child has the right to children’s rights regardless of their nationality, culture, gender, age, religion, physical disabilities etc. children are neither a property of their parents nor are they helpless objects of Charity. They are subjected to their own rights. Many people around the globe do not know that the children have rights. The United Nations General Assembly adopted United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child (civil, political economic, health, social and cultural rights of the children. Children’s rights includes,  - The right to life - The right to freedom from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, -The right to association with both parents, - Basic needs and human dignity, - Physical protection, - The right to education, - Protection of civil rights and healthcare rights, - Freedom fr

After the first confirmed COVID-19 patient found on 27th January 2020, a Chinese woman, the first Sri Lankan national tested positive for COVID-19 on 10th March (a 52 year old tour guide who worked with a group of Italian tourists). The passengers coming from Italy, Iran and South Korea have been required to be quarantined for 14 days. The first COVID-19 patient had died in Sri Lanka on 28th of March. He was a 60 year old patient from Māravila who had a kidney transplant, diabetes and high blood pressure.  Curfews and lockdowns were imposed within the country. Several villages were isolated (Panvila, China Fort Areas in Beruwala, Athulgama, Akurana in Kandy). Meanwhile, those villages declared reopened. Sri Lankan parliamentary election was postponed. All passenger arrivals from all countries at Bandaranaike International airport have been suspended (Imposed travel restrictions). Sri Lanka reacted rapidly to early warnings of the new virus whereas most of the European countr

Coronaviruses are considered as a large family of viruses that can cause illnesses in animals or human beings. When it comes to the case of humans, it may cause respiratory infections from common cold to severe diseases (Middle East Respiratory syndrome (MERS), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The recently discovered coronavirus was not identified before the outbreak began in Wuhan, China. Corona virus (COVID-19) disease is an infectious disease. The epidemic has spread more than 195 countries including Europe and Asia. It has created a global pandemic situation. As of 19 May 2020, 4,868,822 Confirmed cases have been reported worldwide with 318,989 deaths.  Symptoms Fever, Breathing difficulties, Shortness of breath, Dry cough, Tiredness, Aches and pains, Headache, Nasal congestion, Sore throat, Congestion,  Loss of taste and smell However, these symptoms are can be vary. Some people may be infected with COVID-19, but they might have mild s

Life in the contemporary society is a struggle which is aimed to gain monetary rewards, comfort and luxury. However, there is a little value in the material things when it is compared to the mental happiness. Can wealth give happiness? Look around and see What gay distress! What a splendid misery! What fortune lavishly can pour? The mind annihilates, and calls for more! (Dhammananda, 1989, p. 149). The mind is the eventual source of both happiness and misery. As the individual is the basic component of the society, the mind of the individual must be at peace at first to be happiness in the world. It should be mentioned that ‘ no one is happy unless he is contented with him-self ’ (Dhammananda, 1989, p. 140). Therefore, we should understand that happiness comes from within. “Happiness is a perfume. You cannot pour on others  Without getting a few drops on yourself” -Anonymous- Unless and until you adjust yourself to the universal virtuous principles you ca

Virginia Woolf was an English writer who is considered as one of the most important modern novelist and a short story writer in the 20th century. The Voyage Out (1915), Mrs Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927) and The Waves (1931) are some of her fiction. She inspired feminism through her works. She was a pioneer in her use of stream of consciousness and her narrative device. She is also identified as a precursor of postmodernism as she has presented postmodern features in her novel The Waves. The Waves which has written in 1931 can be recognized as the greatest novel that she has written which is formally and thematically different from her other literature works. Although this novel is composed in the modern period, it includes postmodern features. A Summary of The Waves  The Waves is composed in 1931 and it can be considered as Woolf’s most experimental work.  In the incidents in The Waves have gone through six different characters; three men (Bernard, Neville and Louis)

The term ‘happiness’ is a subjective term, that is used in the contexts of mental and emotional states. Although we all like to have happiness in our lives, the definition of happiness and the ways that happiness can be gained can be different from one person to another. In a way, happiness can be defined as life satisfaction or well-being which is in turn subjective. And also the term ‘happiness’ is a relative term because one person may be a rich one but unhappy whereas another one may be poor but happy. It depends. It is possible to identify several constituents for happiness. For that, one should exercise both compassion and wisdom. They are considered to be the two wings that can fly man to the peak of human perfection. Compassion can be defined as love, charity, tolerance or kindness. It is about acting out of love and concern for all the beings that live. Compassion represents the emotional aspect whereas wisdom represents the intellectual side. Wisdom can be classified

In normative ethics, there are two main approaches in which can be used to understand the scope of ethics. They are, - Teleological theory - Deontological theory The consequences of an action are concerned in teleological theory. Deontological theory does not concern about the consequences of an action and it is focused on doing duty for the sake of duty. Buddhist ethics are related to teleological theory. But it has some characteristics of utilitarianism which studies under deontological theory. Mainly, Buddhist ethics are focused on the final goal of nibbāna. Buddhist ethics leads a person towards achieving nibbāna as a way of discipline which ease of the path to nibbāna. The whole teaching of Buddhist ethics is based on attaining liberation. Buddhist ethics can be discussed under three basic teachings. - Personal identity - Free will - Rebirth concept Personal identity is very important in ethics since if there is not a personal identity or a being called a ‘person’

"For yesterday is but a dream And tomorrow only a vision, But today, well-lived, makes every yesterday,  A dream of happiness,  And every tomorrow  A  vision of hope and joy. Look well then to this day.” The above-mentioned lines were written by Kālidāsa who was a classical Sanskrit writer, the greatest poet and dramatist in Sanskrit language. It shows the value of living in the present moment. Many people worry when they think about their future. If someone adjusts themselves to the conditions of the daily life, then there is no reason for them to worry about their future. The secret of happiness lies in doing what needs to be done in the present moment. We should accept the fact that there are things in life that are not in our control. Some people have the habit of consulting fortune-tellers when they are in a chronic worrying situation. If you are picturing a negative outcome of an event which may happen in future, then you are in a worrying situatio